I think as viewers, we just enforce the raunchy and violent behavior seen on reality TV now. Producers want to make a show that will get tons of viewers and good ratings so they can continue it, therefore, they make sure that they cut scenes and add what is the most exciting to the viewer. In this article (http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30092600/ns/today-entertainment/t/just-how-real-are-reality-tv-shows/#.Trck6kOImU8 ), reality TV is examined. They say that the reason reality TV is able to contain and produce so much drama is because it has real people put in unreal situations. For example, on the Challenge on MTV, they are real people competing, but it is obvious that tension will run high in a game where its every man for himself. They spend long hours in the sun doing physically exhausting activities in order to keep themselves on the show. That much pressure could cause anyone to blow. Thus the many fights seen on the show. And we as viewers eat this up. So in turn they put more and more physically and mentally exhausting challenges on there for the contestants to do to see how far they can push them. In this clip, Wes and CT have been fighting for hours on end and I personally found this hilarious. That’s what the producers want from you; enjoyment from other’s misery. I think we ourselves enjoy this too. Even though this sounds horrible, I like to watch other people in peril because it makes me feel better about my life.
This is what they do in The Hunger Games. They start the players off at the Cornucopia where all the supplies are so there will be instant bloodshed when they fight for them. If a few days go by and the audience grows bored, the Gamemakers add in some fun as seen here:
“The game has taken a twist. The fire was just to get us moving, not the audience will get to see some real fun.” Pg 175
They wanted the audience to see some bloodshed and excitement, so they set a trap of fire balls to get Katniss up and moving, hopefully closer to the other tributes so they could see a battle.
Whether we realize it or not, we greatly influence how reality shows are produced. I admit that I enjoy reality shows, especially Teen Mom, 16 and Pregnant, and True Life. At least True Life is educational but again it shows people in extreme situations. I find the lives of others so fascinating to watch because it gives me insight on how others work. It’s simply just a fun escape from my own life.
I completely agree with almost everything you have said Megan. I especially agree with the fact that we enjoy watching other people in misery. Even though it sounds somewhat disturbing we enjoy it because we do in fact find our lives better than theirs and so on. When I watch or catch a glimpse of mtv or vh1's reality shows I laugh. The reason I laugh is because I believe that most of those shows are absolutely ridiculous. All of the fighting and cursing and degrading comments make me feel as though my life is a million times better than theirs.
ReplyDelete"That’s what the producers want from you; enjoyment from other’s misery. I think we ourselves enjoy this too. Even though this sounds horrible, I like to watch other people in peril because it makes me feel better about my life."
ReplyDeleteMost people say that we watch because it makes us "feel better about ourselves." What does this statement say about us though? Interesting, isn't it?
I agree with you view of it. What we see on reality television is entertaining to us, and maybe it is because our lives are boring and watching people on tv get killed or fighting is more amusing. As distrubing that may sound it can very much be true to our society.
ReplyDeleteI think we find it entertaining because we are not all that familiar with their outrageous reactions to the situations that they are put in! Everything is so dramatized and blown way out of proportion and a lot of times what we see on TV is not the whole story of what happened when they were filming a show. I saw an E True Hollywood story on Snooki once and they said that in one of the seasons when Snooki was punched by a guy at a bar, MTV edited the footage to make it seem like some big guy just hit poor Snooki, they did not really show the entire story to what happened.
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